Bienno - Location

The Municipality of Bienno is located in northern Italy, in Lombardy Region, in the Province of Brescia, in the Central Camonica Valley, about 70 km from the town of Brescia and the Tonale Pass. At an altitude of 450 metres above sea level, it is surrounded by the peaks of Concarena and Presolana Mounts. The ancient village stands on one of the hills dominated by Dosso del Cerreto Mount and it preserves in an almost intact way the medieval city planning structure of the old town centre. The village has in fact an urban conformation that is particularly rich and important. It is laid out on the geometric plant of the Roman foundations (castrum) and has all the typical features of the medieval village, both in the evolution of the Roman planned route and in its amplification in relation to the geomorphological conformation of the ground. The Grigna stream runs through Bienno; this one, through the water that flow into the Vaso Rč (the Rč Duct), supplies with the necessary energy the hydaraulic wheels, which move both the heavy hammers and the millstones, processing the iron into forged tools and grinding the cereals into flour.